1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a book holder and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a holder for hardbound books, loose leaf pages in a hard binder and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various music book holders have been developed in the past but most use some variation of a pair of spring-loaded pivotal arm members which may be placed across the open pages of the book to hold it in an open position. While this solves the problem of keeping the book open to the desired page location, it is still difficult to turn the pages without an assistant or without removing both hands from the musical instrument in order to effect the page turning. The same general problem exists in cases where a person is hospitalized or attempting to read a book in bed, since it is next to impossible to keep the book open to the desired page location without grasping the book with both hands.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,863, the present inventor disclosed a book holder which is particularly designed and constructed to support a book at its top and bottom edges to keep the book open to the desired page location and at the same time facilitate turning of pages in the book with minimal effort and with only the use of one hand. This device comprises an elongated base plate member which has an upwardly extending backrest portion secured along the rear edge of the base plate. This backrest member also comprises one or more vertical slots along the rear edge thereof. The music holder further comprises a top plate member positioned directly above the base plate, the rear edge of the top plate member having elongated rods or slats which are slidably and frictionally engageable with the slots of the backrest member. A plurality of inwardly facing friction pad members, usually made of a soft flexible material such as urethane foam, is provided along the upper surface of the base plate member and the lower surface of the top plate member.
When a book is placed in an open position on the base plate member, the bottom edge of the book rests on the friction pads. The pads tend to prevent the pages from closing or turning accidentally. The top plate member is then adjusted downward so that similar pads spaced along the bottom surface thereof come into contact with the upper edge of the open book. These friction pads or pressure pads prevent the pages from accidentally turning, while at the same time when the user is ready to turn a page, it is turned in an ordinary manner by moving the right hand page to the left hand position and applying enough pressure to slip that page between the pressure pads thereby again keeping the book at the new desired page location.
Thus the book holder of U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,863 was primarily developed for use as a music book holder or use with flexible cover books and as such is not entirely acceptable for use with hardbound books or loose leaf pages held in a hard binder and the like.